It's time for our annual star-spangled holiday. It's time to celebrate America's 236th birthday.
Come to the Pittsfield Branch Library on Tuesday, July 3rd from 2:00-3:00 p.m. to make some decorations for your party.
We'll have some ideas of projects you can do, but you will be free to make anything you want out
of our red, white and blue supplies. This is for preschool - grade 5.

For some ideas of projects, look here.

Would you like to make and own your very own tutu? Join us for a Tutu Making Workshop at 2pm on June 28th, in the Multipurpose Room at the Downtown Library! We’ll have all the materials you need to make your very own no-sew tutu out of tulle and ribbon of various colors.

Here are some books to get you started:
T is for Tutu: A Ballet Alphabet
Just Grace and her Terrible Tutu
Tallulah’s Tutu
Fancy Nancy and the Mermaid Ballet

And some DVDs of my favorite ballets!
Coppélia
Swan Lake, with an all male cast
Swan Lake, by the American Ballet Theater
Ballet for Boys

This event is for kids grades K through 12.

A pair of the Malletts Creek Cecropia Moths have successfully bred, and just recently laid a significant batch of eggs in the exhibit. Visit them quickly before they hatch, which will occur sometime in the next five days to two weeks, and collect a new game code to earn 150 Summer Game points. This fresh batch of eggs herald the imminent return of the caterpillars, watch for them soon.

Meet several raptors from the Leslie Science & Nature Center including an American Kestrel, Barn Own, and a Bald Eagle. We'll learn about habitats, adaptations for survival, life cycles, conservation efforts and the food web as we engage with live raptors and a hands-on exploration of feathers, skulls and other raptor parts. This event will be offered in its entirety for two sessions at the Malletts Creek Branch, once from 11:00 AM to 12:00 PM and again from 1:00 PM to 2:00 PM. The first show tends to fill up quickly, so if you want to try for a closer look at the raptors you may want to plan on attending the 1:00 PM program.

Maybe you've been to Greenfield Village and seen the horses at work.
Or maybe that's one of the things you're planning to do this summer. Maybe you're just a big fan of horses.
Come to the Pittsfield Branch Library at 2:00 p.m on Tuesday, June 19, 2012 to see the author
and photographer talk about their book The Horses of Greenfield Village. Hear the story of these
wonderful working animals.
For all ages, kindergarten and up.

Cockroaches often get a bad rap, and there's a whole host of misconceptions surrounding them, starting with the belief that they're dirty. Not so, and thanks to a new exhibit from the Leslie Science & Nature Center you can see just how clean they are by visiting the Pittsfield Branch. Two distinct species of live roaches will be on display for the summer, one winged and one flightless. Come learn about these oft-despised and misunderstood creatures, and make sure to look for the Summer Game code to earn 100 points for visiting the cockroaches.

If you enjoyed visiting the Leslie Science Center's Cecropia caterpillars at the Traverwood Branch last summer, then you're in luck. You can now view the caterpillar exhibit at the Malletts Creek Branch, and you get a whole new exhibit at Traverwood: Aquatic Invertebrates! What exactly is an aquatic invertebrate you may ask? For the purposes of this exhibit, they're mostly going to take the form of small water bugs, such as Dragonfly larvae, but there will be lots of other little creatures living in the roiling, green pond water as well. The inhabitants of this tank are also going to fluctuate, as new critters will be added throughout the summer, and old friends will be eaten by new friends. Make sure and look for the summer game code to earn 100 points for visiting the Dragonfly larvae.

UPDATE: As some of you have noticed, we haven't yet added many Dragonfly larvae to the exhibit. We’re trying to make sure that all the critters who would love to eat the tasty, tasty dragonfly larvae (I’m looking in your general direction predaceous diving beetle larvae) are safely out of the tank, in an effort to avoid a larvae throwdown. In the meantime, please enjoy the toadpoles.

Come visit the spawn of Cecropia! The descendants of last year's Cecropia caterpillars have returned from the Leslie Science & Nature Center. Not only that, but they've migrated from Traverwood to the Malletts Creek Branch, and will be spending the Summer Game season with us. Currently two moths have emerged from their cocoons. However, since the moths only live about a week, you'll need to act fast if you want to be sure of seeing them. While there are no guarantees when dealing with live animals, we're hoping that the moths will lay eggs, which will then hatch into teeny tiny caterpillars in another couple of weeks. We'll update this post when interesting developments occur. Make sure and look for the Summer Game code to earn 100 points for visiting the Moths.

2011 LEGO Contest
If it's summer it's LEGO Contest time! One of our largest and most anticipated events is scheduled for Thursday, August 2, at the Kensington Court Hotel, 610 Hilton Blvd., (near Briarwood Mall). Last year we had over 200 entries and we can be sure there will even more this year!. Preschoolers, Kid, Teens and Adults are invited to participate. New this year: PEOPLE'S CHOICE! Attendees of the contest may vote for one project in each age category. People's Choice winners will receive a special LEGO trophy. For all the details read the complete rules and guidelines, and then start building!

Summer begins in the Northern Hemisphere on June 20, and a Jump Roping Blast will be happening on this day too.
So start your summer off right at Malletts Creek, Wednesday, the 20th from 7:00 - 8:30pm. We'll be jumping outside at one
end of the parking lot, and have on hand Chinese Jump Ropes, Double Dutch Ropes, regular size jump ropes and
even a few hula hoops. Check out these rope skipping titles and sign up for the summer reading game while you're at it.
Grades 4 - 12.

Special guests, the St. Francis Heartbeats, will demo their skills. If it rains, we'll jump inside!